I hope you can salvage your pc. To avoid such scorching and burning have you thought of using an insert? They're the best. Never any scorching or burning. The food also tastes better and has much better texture than does food cooked conventionally in a pressure cooker. I nearly always cook with one because of how much better I like the results plus absolutely no worry about damaging a pc or scorching food. Check out some of the posts from 6/7, 5/17 & 5/20 regarding the subject.